We know that spam hurts us in many ways as consumers and individuals, but as marketers, it makes our job particularly difficult.  It is frustrating to think that by the time my subscriber has weeded through all of his junk mail, he may not have the time, desire, or energy to read what I sent him, even though he requested it. 

While this notion seems bad in itself, the problem of spam is even worse than we first thought.  Not only does it hamper electronic communications, it degrades other forms of marketing.  Marketing is largely based upon trust – the kind of trust that takes months and years to establish - and spam directly undermines it.  Consumers are telling us, with unopened email, with pop-up killers, with Tivo to filter television commercials, that they do not want extra information.  They don’t want content that they don’t ask for and they are expending great effort to block any unwanted communication that comes their way.  

So what do we do as marketers?  How can we effectively communicate to prospects and clients?  We must take action – it is our responsibility, our obligation, to combat spam – we just have to figure out how. 

The first way is easy – don’t contribute to it.  If you have subscribers, give them what they ask for, nothing more, nothing unexpected and certainly, nothing that they can’t opt-out of. 

The next way is a little bit more difficult, but it basically comes down to helping you help yourself.  By now, you may know best practices for building a permission-based campaign – if you don’t, you can find the information you need here: http://www.clickz.com/author/index.php/60783.  The best way that you can combat spam is to push your way through it – build relationships, send relevant content, and take the time to get to know your subscribers through analytics – by doing this, you will be giving subscribers what they want, and as a result, they will repay you with their trust and loyalty.   

iMakeNews has taken this even further, as a founding member of the NAI ESPC (Network Advertising Initiative Email Service Provider Coalition).  The organization is a cooperative group of companies dedicated to resolving public policy concerns related to privacy and emerging technologies.  The focus right now is the growing problem of spam and the related concern of deliverability.  The goal is to combat spam, but it is a long and challenging road.

As a subscriber and potentially a fellow marketer, I am guessing that you have faced these problems and I would be interested in your input.  Please send your thoughts and ideas to me at bfreeman@imakenews.com, and I will post some of them in the next issue.